A/N: I beat the game a couple days ago and decided it was finally time to write something for it. I did 117 hours (much, much unnecessary level-grinding on my overly-cautious part...), and how about everyone else? Anyway, I know there are probably multiple stories like this out there, I even read one just now, but I mean, how many vampire stories are out there? How many werewolf, dystopia, or alternate universe stories are there?

This blatantly disregards the canon ending of 13 and the whole of 13-2 (haven't played it yet, but know the bare basic premise).

Enjoy.

Warning: Spoiler alert for those who haven't finished the game. Beware.

(On a piece of paper taped to Lightning's arm)

Light,

I just woke up. Well, it was a few hours ago, but anyway. Serah and Dajh were waiting. Apparently it's been a week since Fang and Vanille saved Cocoon from a fatal crash-landing on Gran Pulse. The Sanctum is alive and kicking with a base on Gran Pulse and multiple camps set up at the base of the Spire (this frozen pillar of ice at the bottom of Cocoon you'll just have to see when you wake up). But they're doing a lot better now. The people of Cocoon have decided that the old order is out of the question with the way things ended.

Anyway, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Everything else can wait to be explained until you wake up. Which I hope you do soon. Me, Serah, and Dajh are all excited to show you around our new home world (even though we pretty much saw enough ourselves for a lifetime when we got here a while back).

I miss you a lot. Wake up soon.

Come see me,

Hope.

P.S. Everything worked out fine after the battle with Orphan, but that doesn't mean you get to take your time napping.

(In a journal beneath Hope's bed)

To my crazy self,

I woke up from crystal stasis a couple weeks ago. Just me. I was able to write Light a note before my dad dragged me to our temporary apartment. I miss her a lot. It hurts when I think about her. It hurts my eyes, my throat, my chest. I know she'll wake up, but I'm afraid I'll be alone and grow old and die before she does. I mean, I don't even know how this eternal life thing works out after you've woken up. Is the eternal life what sleep you get in crystal stasis? Or is crystal stasis the thing that prepares your body for eternal life? Nobody knows. But we're all worried, even if we won't acknowledge it.

My dad is forcing me to see a therapist, too. It started when he found out about my "night terrors." I guess my "lack of appetite," "constant" anxiety, and..."paranoia" worried the old man a little too much that when he found out I tend to have nightmares it sent him over the edge. And now my therapist is having me write in a journal every night and say how I feel and what happened to make me feel that way. Well, my therapist suggested it and my dad won't let me sleep until I've written at least half a page. So, from my point of view, it's still the therapist's fault. As I write, my dad's watching me from the living room.

Anyway, I think I've written enough. I'm really tired and it's getting late.

I hope Light wakes up soon.

"The lonely crept into bed with me last night;

It said, 'Don't worry- I won't bite.'

And I guess it didn't lie to me

Because as far as I can see

There's not a mark on my person.

But there's pain everwhere."